Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease rises to seventh in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.
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Box-Toppers picks Yankees over Cubs in 2026 World Series, plus our awards forecasts
The New York Yankees are Box-Toppers’ pick to win the 2026 World Series, defeating the projected National League champion Chicago Cubs.
Box-Toppers projects the Yankees will win 100 games and the American League pennant, ahead of the Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, and Boston Red Sox.
Read MoreBraves’ Fuentes, Mariners’ Raley top players in spring games of Wednesday, March 18
Braves pitcher Didier Fuentes is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Wednesday’s spring training games.
Other top players Wednesday include Luke Raley of the Mariners, Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani and Ildemaro Vargas of the Diamondbacks.
Read MoreCubs’ Horton, Twins’ Keaschall top players in spring games of Monday, March 16
Cubs pitcher Cade Horton is Box-Toppers Player of the Day in Monday’s spring training games.
Other top players Monday include Brandon Lockridge of the Brewers, Luke Keaschall of the Twins and George Springer of the Blue Jays.
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Yankees, Cubs rise to top Box-Toppers’ 2026 preseason team power rankings
The New York Yankees enter 2026 as Box-Toppers’ top-ranked team, but their lead is a precarious one.
While the Yankees’ current roster combined for a league-leading 128.5 Box-Toppers points in 2025—narrowly edging out the Chicago Cubs (125.8 points)—the raw totals don't tell the whole story.
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ 2026 daily coverage begins with Friday’s first spring training games
Box-Toppers coverage of the 2026 Major League Baseball season begins with the first spring training games Friday.
Since 1995, Box-Toppers has tracked each Major League game played, tracking who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
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Peers vs. points: 5 Box-Toppers leaders win 2025 Players Choice Awards
Five Box-Toppers category leaders were also 2025 Players Choice Award winners, headlined by the surprising National League Outstanding Player selection, Kyle Schwarber, who beat out unanimous NL MVP Shohei Ohtani for the honor.
But while the players and Box-Toppers data found common ground for the top NL player, a massive disparity emerged for the game’s overall top honor. Players voted Cal Raleigh of the Mariners as Player of the Year, even though he earned just 6.0 Box-Toppers points—ranking 24th among American League batters and 139th among all players.
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Box-Toppers’ big dippers—players whose 2025 point total declined most from 2024: Luis Gil leads list
The 2024 Box-Toppers rookie leaders, Luis Gil and Shota Imanaga, both faltered during sophomore slumps in 2025, recording the two largest year-over-year Box-Toppers point declines.
Yankees pitcher Gil, whose Box-Toppers point total slid 16.4 points and Cubs pitcher Imanaga, whose total slipped 13.7 points, lead this year’s list of Box-Toppers’ big dippers.
Read MoreBox-Toppers 2025 year-end All-Star teams
Overall Box-Toppers points leader, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, leads the Box-Toppers All-Star teams for the 2025 regular season.
The American League and National League All-Star teams are composed of the players with the highest Box-Toppers point totals by position in each league. In addition to nine batters in each league are the top four starting pitchers in each league and the top closing pitcher.
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Box-Toppers supports four players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the 2026 ballot: Cole Hamels, Félix Hernández, Torii Hunter and Chase Utley.
Box-Toppers selects 4 players for 2026 Hall of Fame induction in internet writers’ ballot
Box-Toppers is voting for four players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 2026 Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) ballot.
Box-Toppers is voting for these players, listed alphabetically by last name. (To jump directly to their Box-Toppers-focused profile below, click the jump link next to their name.)
Read MoreJudge, Ohtani repeat as Hank Aaron Award winners in 2025, despite lower B-T rankings
Both Hank Aaron Award-winners for 2025—Aaron Judge of the Yankees in the American League and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers in the National League—won the honor for the second straight season.
However, neither player led their league’s batters in Box-Toppers points in 2025, though both ranked first in 2024.
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Three of six Box-Toppers’ choices won major postseason honors and three did not. Top row players all won: Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal won AL Cy Young, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes won NL Cy Young and Drake Baldwin of the Braves won NL Rookie of the Year. Box-Toppers choices in the bottom row all lost: Skubal for AL MVP, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies for NL MVP and Athletics pitcher Jacob Lopez for AL Rookie of the Year.
Postseason awards wrap-up: Box-Toppers leaders win 3 of 6 major honors in 2025
Box-Toppers’ choices for baseball’s major postseason player awards won three of six 2025 honors.
However, for three other awards announced in the past week, voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), Box-Toppers leaders were not among the winners.
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Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers won 2025 Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday over Box-Toppers’ choices for the awards, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal and Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies.
Judge, Ohtani win 2025 MVP awards, ahead of Box-Toppers’ picks, Skubal, Schwarber
Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers won 2025 Most Valuable Player Awards Thursday over Box-Toppers’ choices for the awards, Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal and Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies.
Both Judge and Ohtani won their league’s award for the second straight year—Judge in the American League and Ohtani in the National League.
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These four are both Box-Toppers top-ranked players and finalists for major 2025 postseason awards: Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, Paul Skenes of the Pirates, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies and Drake Baldwin of the Braves.
Box-Toppers points leaders are finalists in 4 of 6 major postseason player awards
In four of the six major postseason player awards, the 2025 Box-Toppers points leader for each honor is among the finalists announced by baseball writers.
There are two awards in which the Box-Toppers leader is not among the finalists: AL Most Valuable Player and AL Rookie of the Year.
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Here are Box-Toppers’ picks for major postseason awards: Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies, Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, Athletics pitcher Jacob Lopez and Nick Baldwin of the Braves.
Box-Toppers points leaders in 2025 seem likely to win 2 of 4 major postseason awards
Box-Toppers’ points leaders for 2025 seem likely to win two of the four major postseason awards.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, who led all players with 22.1 Box-Toppers points, seems likely to win the American League Cy Young Award. Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, who led National League pitchers with 21.1 Box-Toppers points, is likely to win the NL Cy Young Award.
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2025 MVP contenders Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Cal Raleigh of the Mariners, George Springer of the Blue Jays, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies and Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal.
Why Judge, Raleigh, Ohtani don’t appear on Box-Toppers’ 2025 MVP ballots
Baseball’s Most Valuable Player Award favorites did not perform well in the Box-Toppers metric in 2025.
Aaron Judge of the Yankees, Cal Raleigh of the Mariners and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers all hit more than 50 home runs, racking up impressive statistics. However, all three were comparatively rarely the player who contributed most to their team’s wins.
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Logo source: Chris Creamer’s SportsLogos.Net
Box-Toppers picks Dodgers over Orioles in 2025 World Series, plus our awards forecasts
Box-Toppers picks the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2025 World Series, beating the predicted American League champion Baltimore Orioles.
Box-Toppers projects the Dodgers will have the most wins among all teams—108—and that National League teams will be among the most dominant. Eight of the 15 NL teams are projected to have as many or more wins as the best American League teams (89).
Read MoreBox-Toppers’ 2025 daily coverage begins with spring training opener Thursday
Box-Toppers coverage of the 2025 Major League Baseball season begins with the first spring training game Thursday.
Since 1995, Box-Toppers has tracked each Major League game played, tracking who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win.
Read MoreA look at Box-Toppers season-by-season AL & NL pitching & batting leaders, 1995-2024
A look at Box-Toppers season-by-season leaders chart for each of the past 30 seasons, including the leaders in Box-Toppers points each season among four main categories—American League and National League pitchers and batters.
Also, a look at how often Box-Toppers leaders win major postseason awards (Cy Young and Most Valuable Player), what players have led a Box-Toppers season category most often since tracking began in 1995 and what teams have had the most category leaders in 30 seasons. Also, a look at the lowest point totals to lead a season category, which includes 2024 leaders.
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Box-Toppers points leaders Aaron Judge of the Yankees (left), Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers (middle) and Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (left) also were winners of the 2024 Players Choice Awards as voted by members of the players’ union.
Box-Toppers points leaders Judge, Ohtani, Skubal win 2024 Players Choice Awards
Three Box-Toppers category leaders also won Players Choice Awards for 2024 as voted by the players’ union:
Aaron Judge of the Yankees was voted American League Outstanding Player and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as AL Most Valuable Player.
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers was voted National League Outstanding Player and was also Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Most Valuable Player.
Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal was voted AL Outstanding Pitcher and also was Box-Toppers’ choice as NL Cy Young Award winner.